`Sex' Is Kaput -- `Sopranos' Merely Put Off

NAMES & FACES - FALL TV PREVIEW

LOS ANGELES -- The Sex and the City movie is dead, and The Sopranos won't return for its final season until 2006, HBO says.

Sopranos creator David Chase is in France while cast members work on other projects, HBO Chairman Chris Albrecht says.

"It's like the Harry Potter book -- you'll wait for the sequel and be very happy to get it," Albrecht says.

He says the Sex and the City movie is kaput and puts the blame on Kim Cattrall. HBO had film deals with everyone but needed an extension so Michael Patrick King, who was exhausted after the series finale, could finish the script.

"Everyone was willing to give us an extension but one person," Albrecht says.

Albrecht supports Six Feet Under although last week's episode, with the torture of David Fisher (Michael C. Hall), has fans complaining that the show has lost its way.

"We want more seasons of Six Feet Under, and I thought that this episode this last week was extraordinarily compelling and interesting and a departure," Albrecht says.